New Subway Café will be first in New Mexico

A New Subway Cafe will open Wednesday across the street from UNM campus on Central Avenue west of Yale Boulevard. Lethy Bernal said it will be a traditional cafe with a full coffee bar. “We’re the only one in the state,” she said.

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A new Subway Café opening on Central Avenue will offer more to customers than the standard sandwich.

Lethy Bernal, owner of the café, said the new business, which is planned to open Wednesday, will be a traditional Subway, but it will include a full coffee bar.

“We’re the only one in the state,” she said.

Bernal owns other Subways around UNM and the Pita Pit, she said. She had worked with Subway before, which is why she decided to call the company to set up the new Subway Café, she said.

“We have other businesses around the UNM area, but we thought this was prime space for students,” she said.

Bernal’s other businesses in the UNM area have been successful, even during the economic recession, she said.

“We have a really good area around here for small businesses in the local economy, which is really nice,” she said.

The new café will have a new drink menu that includes lattes, macchiatos, fruit drinks and cold espresso drinks, Bernal said.

“I think we’re going to do very well because we do offer the uniqueness of the coffee concept and the sandwich part of it,” she said. “And our location is fantastic.”

The new café also has a different environment from other restaurants inthe sandwich chain, said Darryl Starkes, who manages Bernal’s other Subways.

“The design is completely different than any other Subway,” he said. “It has more of a chic, modern feel to it, more upscale.”

The new café aims to be a local hangout for students and other customers, Bernal said.

“We tried to make it as cozy as possible, so we have free open Wi-Fi, we have a fireplace … and a TV with the ESPN sports package, which I think is going to get some people in here,” she said.

Starkes, who will manage the new café, said he thinks the restaurant will make people re-evaluate their view on Subways in the area.

“I think it will definitely change people’s perspective on how they look at Subway in the UNM area,” he said. “Even how they look at some of the more upscale coffee houses … I think we will give them a different perspective on where they should be going.”